Sexual Abuse
There is no more despicable crime than the sexual abuse of a vulnerable person, such as a child or a person with a disability. The psychological and emotional damage caused by these incidents can affect the victims for the rest of their lives.
Unfortunately, institutions such as schools and churches too often turn a blind eye to the potential for sexual abuse in their midst and too seldom set up the sorts of hiring, training and supervision procedures that would prevent such abuse from occurring. As a result, they unwittingly provide safe havens for molesters.
Over the years, we have represented many victims of sexual abuse. In fact, recently, this has become a major part of our practice.
We have successfully represented, for example:
- A deaf, developmentally delayed woman with cerebral palsy who was raped by a paratransit driver. The paratransit company had previously fired this driver (who had a criminal history and an expired driver’s license), but rehired him because of a shortage of drivers. The plaintiff (who was in her 20's) and her mother had striven for years to give her more and more independence, which included riding a paratransit van to a job a restaurant every day. As a result of this assault, however, her quest for independence was dealt a huge blow.
- A choir boy who was repeatedly molested by a Catholic priest. The plaintiff suffered years of torment as a result of this abuse and ultimately died from an overdose of the pain medication that he had been taking to hide from his psychological pain.
- Six brain-injured children at a convalescent hospital who were molested by two different hospital employees, over the course of many years. One hospital employee molested so many children that he could not remember them all. The hospital, despite its outstanding reputation in the community, had ignored clear signs that these employees were threats to children.
- A teenage boy whose church pastor had molested him and several other teenagers. The victims, all from impoverished families, had spent countless hours at the church and craved the attention and positions of responsibility that this pastor had given them. He repaid their devotion by victimizing them, causing them to question both their self-worth and their religious faith.
- Two men who had been molested years earlier by a junior high school teacher. Similar to the previous case, the perpetrator had taken a number of vulnerable boys, from impoverished backgrounds, under his wing and had purported to serve as a father figure to them. Again, this was only a ruse to put himself in a position to molest the boys.
In each of these cases, we obtained settlements that allowed the victims to get the psychological counseling and other help that they needed in order to try to put these terrible incidents behind them.